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Trump Admits He's Blocking USPS Funding to Stop Main-In Votes; U.S. Scientists Creating a COVID Strain to be Used in Human Trials as a Possible "Plan D" in Vaccine Research; Dr. Evan Anderson Discusses Vaccine Development & NIH Director Saying Don't Expect an "October Surprise" COVID Vaccine & Russia's COVID Vaccine; Biden Calls for National Mask Mandate in New Ad. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 14, 2020 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, it appears to be the systematic degrading of the U.S. Postal Service just three months before a critical election where we know that millions of Americans, many of them for the first time, are expected to use that very postal service in order to cast their ballot.

And any one of the long list that you just gave, Kate, would have been cause for alarm. But it doesn't even end there.

We have heard every day from state officials, from Democrats and Republicans lawmakers, from postal workers themselves, all of whom are deeply concerned at what they are seeing on the ground locally at their post offices, worry what this is going to look like come November.

And I want to bring up one very important point that you mentioned there at the end about President Trump and Louis DeJoy, his postmaster general.

Louis DeJoy was the finance chair of the now done Charlotte convention. As you and I know from covering politics, that is not small potatoes. That is a big deal. That is a big-time donor.

We have learned today out of the two of them, President Trump and DeJoy, met a week ago. The reason why this is raising questions is, one, of course, given the timing and what we're seeing at the post office.

But the other big concern here is that President Trump, a week later, said he hadn't talked to the postmaster general. So trying to sort out how that worked.

But all of this is fueling these allegations that the Trump administration is working with the post office to meddle in this year's election -- Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You have some new reporting about a memo that was actually sent out to postal workers by this new postmaster general about the changes that they're making. What is he saying?

HOLMES: Well, he says that they're necessary. He said this will help them be up and running smoothly for the election, which I do want to note is not what we have heard from postal workers.

BOLDUAN: Right.

HOLMES: And postal officials, who are saying that, right now, these delays, this is going to contribute to potential delays down the road. They don't see a path to this making things more streamlined and efficient.

And I want to point out one other thing that is very interesting, particularly as we talk about this relationship between DeJoy and President Trump.

He talked about how critics are always soon to go after the postal service's dire financial situations but without offering any sort of a solution.

And this comes at a time in which we know that Democrats have been trying to get billions of dollars to the postal service particularly ahead of the election.

And it has been President Trump himself who, as you noted, said he was opposed to that because of mail-in voting.

BOLDUAN: You would think maybe someone who could be a finance chair of an convention could have a suggestion on how to deal with the finances.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

Now to another developing story out of Washington. The Government Accountability Office just put out a new report this morning and it says the top appointments at the Department of Homeland Security are invalid.

CNN's Evan Perez joins me now with more on this.

Evan, what more is the GAO saying here? Why are these picks invalid?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is according to the GAO.

They say, under the Vacancies Reform Act -- this is the law that governs the succession at these department -- Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, two of the senior officials at the department, their appointments and the roles that they're serving is invalid according to the GAO.

The GAO doesn't have the power to make any changes or to make any of this come true. They've referred it to the Homeland Security inspector general to see whether or not any action needs to be taken.

But, Kate, this is a big deal because, of these two men, Chad Wolf is the acting head of the department, and Ken Cuccinelli, again, is one of the senior officials there.

If any activity or any official decisions that they've signed is done by somebody who is acting in this position illegally, then you have to wonder whether anything that they're signing is actually legal.

So that is one of the questions being raised by this GAO report, the question of whether or not the fact that these two men, their positions are actually invalid. It is a big deal for the Homeland Security Department.

It should be noted that the acting -- the head of the Homeland Security department has been an acting position since Kirstjen Nielsen resigned last April.

BOLDUAN: There's much more to come on this. As you lay out, the potential ripple effect of it.

Evan, thank you.

PEREZ: Right.

[11:34:17]

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, if Plan A doesn't work out, make sure you have a Plan A, B, C, apparently D. Next, a look at a new development in the race to find a vaccine that Dr. Fauci is calling Plan D.

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BOLDUAN: New this morning, top government scientists are creating a backup plan for the backup plan when it comes to developing a COVID vaccine.

The nation's top disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, confirmed that researchers are working on a Plan D, creating a strain of coronavirus that could be used in human challenge trials, as they are called. It is not imminent, but it is important.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is joining me now.

Elizabeth, what does this mean.

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a look at what challenge trials, Kate.

The trials that are going on right now are not challenge trials. They vaccinate people. They then let them go out in the world and either they get coronavirus or they don't.

With challenge trials, it's very different. You intentionally infect someone. You vaccinate them. And then you put the virus literally up their noises to see if they get sick or not.

[11:40:08]

Now, everyone has said, no, we are not going to do this. There has been a decision, we're not going to do this.

But what we've learned now is that the NIH is going to have a contract with the company to make a type of strain of the virus that can be used in these challenge trials.

I spoke with Dr. Fauci and he said this is a far-out contingency. This is very preliminary. They don't want to do these challenge trials.

But they said, if they have to, they want to have the strain of the virus in the freezer that they could use.

But, again, he thinks, and everyone I've talked to thinks this strain will never be used. It will never be put to use. It will sit in the freezer -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: I appreciate being over prepared when it comes to something as serious as this.

COHEN: Right.

BOLDUAN: Elizabeth, thank you very much.

COHEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: At the same time, there's a new message today from the head of the NIH and that is don't expect to see an approved COVID vaccine by October.

Dr. Francis Collins telling reporters yesterday this, in part, and I'll quote him:

"I would not expect to see, on the basis of what we know scientifically, that we'd be at the point where FDA would have the chance to make such a judgement until considerably later than October 1st. Maybe November. December would be my best bet."

The mention of October is significant because there has been concern among some public health experts that President Trump might be applying pressure on the FDA to approve a vaccine ahead of the November election, an "October surprise," if you will, to help his re- election.

So where exactly are we in the race to find a vaccine?

Joining me now is someone who would know better than anyone, Dr. Evan Anderson. He is the principal investigator for the Moderna clinical trials at Emory University, the first vaccine candidate - Moderna - vaccine candidate to begin phase three trials in the United States.

Dr. Anderson, thank you for taking the time.

You heard there what Dr. Collins says about the timeline. Can you tell me what you think the timeline is realistically for results from your time trial?

DR. EVAN ANDERSON, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR MODERNA CORONAVIRUS VACCINE CLINICAL TRIALS, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Yes. This is the first of the phase three studies that will be evaluating the Moderna vaccine.

And 30,000 individuals will be enrolled and then followed for COVID-19 cases over the course of the next month. And, really, up to two years from now.

From that standpoint -- I agree with Dr. Collins. At this point, it looks very unlikely that we would see any results before late November or December, at best, in my opinion.

But it does depend how much COVID-19 is circulating in the community at the time that the study is ongoing.

BOLDUAN: And as I understand it, it also depends on enrollment, how quickly you get to that 30,000-person enrollment.

How is enrollment going for you all right now?

ANDERSON: So enrollment is -- I think there were number increased in the week at 5,000. And the numbers are increasing rapidly. And that has been our experience as well as we get ramped up and fully up to steam with enrollments.

BOLDUAN: Do you have an estimation of when you think you'll hit that full enrollment?

ANDERSON: It is a little hard for me to estimate, from the study standpoint, when that full enrollment will be achieved. My guess is sometime in September.

BOLDUAN: In September.

And then it comes down to science. They get one vaccination. And then, a month later, if you will, another one. So there's this time period that has to happen. It has to lapse. That is a major factor here.

If people want to enroll and want to volunteer, what should they know?

ANDERSON: So it is what we call a double-blind placebo-controlled study. From that standpoint, half of the people with get a vaccine, half will get placebo. And then we follow to see who acquires COVID-19 over the course of the study.

And by looking at the rate of the placebo versus the vaccine, we're able to see whether the vaccine actually works.

It's as well an assessment of the safety of the vaccine in large numbers of individuals to look for relatively rare side effects.

BOLDUAN: You're not only the principal investigator for this trial, but you're also a pediatrician. And the trial is only testing the vaccine on adults 18 or older.

So if this vaccine proves effective and if this vaccine proves safe, what does it mean for children? Will you know if it's safe and effective for them at that point?

[11:44:59]

ANDERSON: No. There will need to be earlier case studies to look at the dose and the immune response of the vaccine in children. And as well to look at the safety in large numbers of children before it would be able to be licensed.

This would take a while for the U.S. population.

I think it would be good to be able to start those studies soon so that we might be able to help protect children from COVID-19.

As it is quite clear that they are infected with some frequency and do suffer life-threatening and even fatal events related to COVID-19 and the inflammatory syndrome that occurs afterwards, called MIS-C.

BOLDUAN: Exactly right.

So I have to ask you about this Russian vaccine.

After claiming that they've come up with the first effective COVID-19 vaccine in the world, Russian officials are telling CNN now that the government has offered to help the United States effort and share information about their vaccine.

There's understandable skepticism in trusting Russia.

One government official, I think, put it some way like, there's no way we're going to test it -- test that vaccine on monkeys, let alone on people. To put it bluntly.

Do you, Dr. Anderson, want assistance from the Russian government on your drug trial?

ANDERSON: Absolutely not.

So from the standpoint of vaccine studies conducted here in the U.S., it's important for the public to understand the FDA will review all the data before they make any decisions about licensure.

And they will ensure the study is done with appropriate and informed consent and that the data are reliable and trustworthy.

We would want that for any vaccine that were to move forward with licensure in the U.S.

So I think we would politely decline the request, for the opportunity for Russia to provide a vaccine.

BOLDUAN: Things you never though you would be saying.

Dr. Anderson, thank you very much for your time and for all of your effort with trying to do what is really the only thing that is going to get us back to a resemblance of normal, getting a safe and effective vaccine.

Thank you, Doctor. ANDERSON: Correct.

You're welcome.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris now calling for a new mask mandate, dropping new campaign ads, and making it clear how central the pandemic response is to the November election.

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[11:51:56]

BOLDUAN: We're standing by for an event with Joe Biden and running mate, Kamala Harris, in Wilmington, Delaware.

While we're standing by for that, I want to talk about this. Right now, we are seeing the Biden campaign is making masks a very central campaign issue.

In a new ad released today, Biden calls for a nationwide mask mandate, drawing a clear contrast with President Trump on this simple thing.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: Joe Biden knows we need to listen to medical experts and take action now. That starts by expanding testing, calling for mask mandates nationwide starting immediately, and producing more protective gear here at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me now is CNN's Arlette Saenz in Wilmington, Delaware.

Arlette, they are doubling, I guess we'll call it tripling down on the message now.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They certainly are, Kate.

You have heard over the course of the past few months Joe Biden has repeatedly turned back to the coronavirus response and has been quite critical of the president's handling of COVID-19.

In the events that they held yesterday, as well as these new ads, you are seeing them reinforce that message.

Biden and his new running mate, Kamala Harris, had a coronavirus briefing yesterday with some public health experts and delivered remarks where they both called for that nationwide mask mandate.

And now they are rolling that out in even more TV ads. For the past few months, a lot of Biden's TV ads had already focused

on the coronavirus response and trying to -- some of them almost being like PSA advertisements, telling people to wear their masks and socially distance.

But it is clear that the Biden campaign right now is trying to present that contrast with President Trump when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

They feel that he was not quick enough to acknowledge the seriousness of this issue and that that is the reason that you are seeing the number of cases happening right now.

But Biden has repeatedly gone back -- in the first remarks they did with Kamala Harris as a running mate, they slammed the president for coronavirus.

Yesterday, they made that their central issue. And that's likely going to be something that they will carry forward in these coming weeks.

Today, in just a short while, we will see them together signing the documents to officially receive the Democratic nomination next week.

Both Biden and Harris will be delivering their acceptance speeches right here in Delaware, as the coronavirus pandemic had derailed the convention plans in Milwaukee.

BOLDUAN: Arlette, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

We are standing by for that event. We'll bring it to you when it begins and see what we can see as they sign those documents.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit communities of color especially hard. Since 2013, "CNN Hero," Robbin Carroll, has been helping people in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood. And now in the wake of COVID- 19, her efforts are needed more now than ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBIN CARROLL, CNN HERO: What the pandemic showed was the inequities between white and black America. Look at the amount of black Americans that are dying from COVID.

[11:55:10]

We know that we are in a community that is very vulnerable and has very little resources and that they would be extremely hard hit.

Hand sanitizer?

We needed to step in and just provide even more supplies and comfort and security.

Hi!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you doing? CARROLL: I think we always heal in community. We just hold space for

the fact that there's just a lot of pain.

And no matter how it comes out we are here to support you, help you. We see you. We see you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: For more on Robbin's work, go to CNNheroes.com.

We'll be back.

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